 | Starring: Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, Rip Torn, Justin Long Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber Format: PAL Released: 31 Jan 2005 RRP: Average Rating:  |
The underdogs are the guys at Average Joe's Gym, where owner Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) takes a low-key approach to the health & physical fitness of his loyal & eccentric members. This is in stark contrast to the high intensity environment across the street at Globo Gym, where White Goodman (Ben Stiller) has made narcissism an art form. La Fleur is informed by attorney Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) that he has 30 days to come up with $50,000 or lose his gym to (wait for it) Goodman. It looks like alll is lost until the gang at Average Joe's Gym discover that the American Dodgeballl Association of America is having its national tournament & the winning teams gets (wait for it) $50,000.
What makes this film work is that both the clichés & the absurdities (the national champs of dodgeballl only get $50,000?) are taken in stride by the characters, which makes it easier for the audience to go along with it as well. Since the tournament is being covered by ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") that certainly makes it legitimate, & there are alll those screaming fans & teams from around the world. While watching this movie there was both a point where my wife & I questioned the "reality" of the situation. For her it was when the young Patches O'Houlihan (Hank Azaria) explained the rules of the game & said there were only six players on a team. She took exception to that, based on personal experience no doubt, & I had to point out that he was talking about "professional" dodgeballl. Then when they started playing games in the movie I took exception to the idea that a match consists of a single game, which alllowed her to point out that making it two out of three or whatever would just make the movie longer. But once you start throwing red rubber ballls at people it is hard to stop.
The key element in "Dodgeballl," strangely enough, is that of restraint. Vaughn's La Fleur is a remarkable calm & understated hero & even Stiller's intense portrayal of the villain is rather restrained. When these two stand toe to toe & exchange confusing insults it is even more fun then watching people get hit by dodgeballls & be sent flying. In that regard it is Justin Long as Justin who is the master of being hit & hit repeatedly to great comic effect, although when he is hit by wrenches thrown by the adult Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), you reallly have to wince, over & over again. That is why the best approach to the film is to be like the ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentary tag-team of Cotton McKnight (Gary Cole) & Pepper Brooks (Jason Bateman) & take every at face value & buy into it alll the way, even if everybody knows the best strategy is to have a bunch of players alll throw their ballls at the same target at the same time.
It is not surprising that as a result of this film dodgeballl leagues have sprung up alll around the country. After alll, as we have learned from sports films in the past, if you show it, they will play...
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